Is This It (RCA ’01) Rating: A
Cute, rich, and cocky, The Strokes became 2001’s most hyped band before the inevitable backlash came (i.e. “they’re overrated”). But let’s forget about all that and concentrate solely on the 36 minutes of music on Is This It, ok? Right off the bat I was happy to see the 36-minute running time, as this is a concise, filler free album, not a 36-minute album that’s padded out with 36 more minutes of rubbish. The band has all the right influences too (Velvet Underground, Television, Iggy Pop, New York Dolls, etc.), and they turn their limited musical abilities into a strength by keeping things simple. Basically, The Strokes are a great garage band who create easy to play but infectious chord patterns that groove contagiously, especially on “The Modern Age” and “Hard To Explain.” “Someday” and “Last Night” are other catchy and melodic should be classics, as The Strokes get back to rock n’ roll basics with star making attitudes, sturdy indie rock songwriting and energy, and even (gasp!) entertaining guitar solos. Sure, a couple of these songs might be less than essential, and some of them are a little samey sounding (“Someday” and “When It Started,” for example) due to the band’s limited range. But by and large The Strokes recycle rock’s past in gloriously entertaining fashion, and if they’re overrated at all it’s only because they’re rated very, very highly (#2 on the Village Voice’s 2001 year end Jop and Pazz critic poll).
Room On Fire (RCA ’03) Rating: A-
I don’t know what was sillier, the critics who claimed The Strokes to be “the saviors of rock n’ roll,” or the backlash that ensued once it became obvious that they weren’t. Of course, I’m referring to the furor over the band’s debut album, Is This It, which was merely a great rock n’ roll record that contained incredibly catchy and memorable songs but not a single original idea.
Instead, The Strokes are prime recyclers, regurgitating the best bits from garage/punk bands past and molding them into a sound that is ultimately all their own. Julian Casablancas still sings with a deadpan cool Lou Reed would kill for, but he mixes up his delivery a bit more this time out, upping the decibels and letting ‘er rip on more than one occasion. For their part, the rhythm section provides their customary steady beats (drummer Fabrizio Moretti) and throbbing bass (bassist Nikolai Fraiture), while guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. still produce this wonderful ringing guitar sound. Oddly enough, the guitars on Room On Fire sometimes sound like synthesizers, as the album has more of a new wave ‘80s vibe than Is This It, which was retro ‘70s all the way.
As for the songwriting, which is the band’s biggest strength, I’d say that once again it’s consistently stellar. However, whereas Is This It was one of the few albums in recent years that I loved almost immediately, I’d say that the hooks aren’t as ready made this time out, but require a few listens to fully sink in. Yet sink in they will, especially “What Ever Happened” and “12:51” (the album’s first single), which are obvious highlights on an album full of them.
Then again, the album isn’t without its flaws. For one thing, many of these songs start to sound alike after awhile, since even though this band is great at what they do, what they do is fairly limited. Of course, a lack of diversity also plagued the debut, whose blueprint this album closely follows. However, that album had the benefit of being first, and its songs were so catchy that nothing else really mattered. These songs are very catchy too, just not as catchy, and Casablancas’ vocals are sometimes buried in a mix that could be a bit crisper. Some might also find fault with the album’s scant 33-minute running time, but in this era of bloated albums I personally appreciate a short, filler-free album that can be easily listened to and enjoyed in a single sitting. Really, any complaints I have about this album are fairly minor, as it does exactly what I hoped it would in that it expands (if only slightly) on the debut while further reinforcing the band's strengths. The Strokes may not be rock n’ roll “saviors” of any sort, but based on Room On Fire they figure to be a band with considerable staying power.
First Impressions Of Earth (RCA ’05) Rating: B+
Opinion seems to be divided on this one; some are touting the band's slightly more adventurous, expansive sound while others are lamenting its rougher, more abrasive tones. Really, this is no great departure either way, and I'm somewhere in the middle, feeling that while this is another very good Strokes album, it's clearly less good than Room On Fire, which itself was clearly less good than Is This It (notice a trend?). Still, even if each subsequent Strokes album seems to require a little more work to appreciate and is a little less loveable, songs such "You Only Live Once," "Razorblade," "On The Other Side," and "Fear Of Sleep" are certainly easy enough to embrace and are instantly memorable (and singable). The main problem with the album is that 14 songs is about 3 too long; the album seems to drag on and on, and after the fact it's difficult to separate songs, variety never exactly being this band's stock in trade. They are trying, though; mellow songs such as "Killing Lies" and "Evening Sun" are certainly a far cry from heavy hitters such as "Juicebox" and "Vision Of Division," for example. And there are some great bits and surprises on the album. For example, where in the world did that shockingly great jam section come from at around the 1:50 mark of "Vision Of Division"? And that certainly is an interesting synth-like guitar solo on "Ize Of The World," and doesn't Casablancas sound an awful lot like Bono at times on "You Only Live Once" and "Fear Of Sleep"? A song such as "Heart In A Cage" shows that the Strokes still have that great rhythmic surge and overall tightness that marked them as special from the beginning, and "Razorblade" has the "classic Strokes sound" down cold. Nobody does "laconic yet rocking" quite like The Strokes at their best, and they still have those pretty intermeshing or harmonized guitars, though as I mentioned before this album is at times much rougher around the edges than in the past. The hooks are a little harder to come by as well; for example, "15 Minutes" starts all mellow and pretty but when it eventually picks up steam the hooks disappear as the pace picks up. That said, the hooks are there on just about every song. For example, the hard charging up tempo groove of "Electricityscape" is still very melodic, the syncopated beats/synths of "Red Light" are oddly infectious, and how can you not sing along to "On The Other Side?" As for the lyrics, the chorus to "Ask Me Anything" ("I've got nothing to say") is sadly truthful, but the way Casablancas sings it is still cool, as is the band itself.
